Greg Jefferson: A time-management problem?

By a couple of accounts, Jennifer Ramos remains the solid frontrunner to replace Roland Gutierrez, her former boss, in Council District 3, despite VIA trustee Leo Lopez’s entry just under the wire Friday.

Gutierrez hired Ramos as a council aide soon after clobbering incumbent Ron Segovia and taking office in June 2005. He’s now endorsing her as the best candidate to pick up where he left off Dec. 21, when he stepped down to run in Texas House District 119.

Ramos also has won election in her own right within District 3 on the Southeast Side — to Alamo Community College District’s board of trustees in 2004, defeating incumbent Ricardo Martinez and another opponent. That show of strength within the community is one of the reasons Gutierrez says he’s backing Ramos.

But her stint on the ACCD board also could be a potential vulnerability as she competes with Lopez and four other applicants for the nearly 1-1/2-year appointment to complete Gutierrez’s second term. The view of some City Hall insiders is that her attendance record on the public board hasn’t been so hot.

So here’s her record, gleaned from minutes of the ACCD board’s monthly meetings, posted on the district’s Web site.

2007 (through August, the last minutes available online): present for three meetings, absent for one, late for three

2006: present for seven meetings, absent for two, left two meetings early

2005: present for eight meetings, absent for one, late for two

2004 (from June, when she was sworn in, to December): present for four meetings, absent for one, late for one

In other words, Ramos missed five meetings out of 35 in her term for which the minutes are available, for an absentee rate of 14 percent. When you add tardiness/early departure to the mix, the rate bumps up to 37 percent.

That is, she was absent or missed a portion of one in three meetings.

Ramos defended her record, saying she missed two meetings because of illness and the other three because of ACCD reschedulings, setting up conflicts with District 3 council responsibilities — namely, community forums to discuss capital improvement projects.

“It’s a good record,” she said. “Come on — it’s five out of 35 meetings.”

As far as the tardies, she said those likewise stemmed from council responsibilities. Also, she said she left meetings early twice to deal with family emergencies.

The council is scheduled to interview candidates for the interim appointments in Districts 3 and 9 tomorrow. and will pick the winners by majority vote Jan. 17.